List of Kent State Golden Flashes women's basketball seasons

Transcription

On behalf of Missouri State University, it’s my pleasure to welcome you all to Meyer Alumni Center on a very special day for Missouri State Basketball and indeed the university itself. My name is Rick Kindhart, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at Missouri State. In a few moments, we’ll bring up our Director of Athletics, Kyle Moats, who will say a few words about the process in our seventeenth men’s basketball coach, who you’ll get to meet shortly as well. Dr. James Cofer will also say a few comments, then he’ll introduce Paul Lusk to you. Coach Lusk will say a few comments and then we’ll open the floor to any questions from the media members who are here. We are streaming this live through MissouriStateBears.com so if you have a question when we get to the point in the press conference to our reporters that are here, if you’ll raise your hand, we’ll have a handheld microphone to pass around so we’ll try to keep things as smooth as possible in that so our viewers on the internet can hear your questions, as well as Coach Lusk’s response. With that, it’s my pleasure to introduce the Director of Athletics, Mr. Kyle Moats. Kyle. Thank you. Thanks, Rick. It’s a great day. It really is a great day. It’s beautiful and it is a great day. Speaking with coaches and people within the industry it became very apparent that our job was a very coveted job. Based upon our history, recent success of winning a conference championship, our facilities, the Missouri Valley Conference and our geographic location, coaches throughout the country were very interested. We had a wide range of interest with over eighty inquiries. Let’s talk a little bit about how we got to this point. As wit most Ads, you’re always observing and evaluating talent in the event you need to hire a coach. So you are always asking yourself, “what if?” and therefore, you always have ideas who you would like to be interested in and talking to. So we’re going to start with a blank slate. The selection committee was formalized Sunday and met twice in a six-day span to narrow the list to the top five to seven candidates. Dr. Cofer was made aware of these finalists and I began to pursue our top candidate. Thursday morning, Coach Lusk and I met, and I reported back to Dr. Cofer of our meeting. Early Thursday evening, the committee met to discuss any additional information gathered on the five to seven candidates and to discuss my meeting with Coach Lusk. It was concluded that he was our unanimous first choice and the committee’s recommendation was that I should proceed with Dr. Cofer’s approval. I contacted Dr. Cofer, and he agreed that we should move forward. After a discussion with Coach Lusk, his agent, University Council Clif Smart and Dr. Cofer, we came to the agreement late Thursday night with the understanding that we needed presidential and board approval. As I indicated to you six days ago, we would find a great coach who had integrity, who had a history at developing players on and off the court, who was a proven winner, a great recruiter, someone who makes academics a priority, someone who has no compliance issues and someone who understands how to manage the game. And finally, it had to be the right fit for both of us. I wanted someone who wanted to be here and understood the Missouri Valley Conference. I felt that it was important to move quickly based upon the current job market and the offers the Coach Lusk potentially could be entertaining. With the success Coach Martin had and the momentum we had created it was very important for me to find someone who had a similar philosophy in all aspects in our program to continue to move us forward. I’m sure Coach Lusk will speak more on this, but another fact was his pedigree. He’s a coach’s son. His family lived and breathed basketball. His father was a successful player and a Hall of Fame coach in Illinois. When I spoke to Coach Keady, he said Paul was more than ready to be a head coach and he was quick to add, “his wife Melanie, now she’s a quick one. She get’s it.” I promised our student athletes we’d find a great coach and we’d do it in a timely fashion. It was important to me that the transition was as seamless as possible. I am pleased most for them this process fulfilled that promise. I want to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Cofer, the Board of Governors and the selection committee for their support, confidence and diligent work during the process. At this time, I would like to introduce President Dr. James E. Cofer to make a few remarks and introduce our new men’s head basketball coach. I hope he caught that. When I talked to Kyle a week ago, it was in the middle of an Indian Student Association banquet and I had enough foresight to say, “have you got a shortlist?” and he had a shortlist, and Paul Lusk was on the top of that shortlist last week. All the things that were rolling all over the place this weekend and this week were interesting footnotes to what was going on here because Coach Lusk was at the head of our list all along and we had others but the shortlist was developed. It was developed quickly. Kyle did a great job with his contacts throughout the basketball world. He talked to people that needed to be talked to, those coaches that develop other coaches, and I think that’s important for an athletic director to be able to reach out to the industry to find out who’s out there and who can do the job and so I really appreciate the work that Kyle did tirelessly on this. He sat in my office and his phone never quit buzzing a couple of times. It was constant that we dealt with the pressure of hiring a great coach. I spent some time with Mel and Paul and Jack and Maddi for the last couple of days. We wanted to get a player’s coach. I wanted to get a student’s coach and I think that’s what we got. We got a man that understands the game, that understands where we want to go as an institution, that understands our culture, that understands the Valley, but most importantly understands that they are student athletes. Going to class is not an option. I think that’s maybe the most important thing that I heard is we want to make sure they are students first in the student athlete part of being a coach. It was interesting that we talked a lot about education. We didn’t talk a lot about basketball, because I don’t know a whole lot. But Mel and Paul and I talked a lot about education last night. They are both Missouri State Bears, by the way. They have Master’s Degrees from Missouri State. It was interesting, last night, they both talked about a faculty member that they had and in glowing terms in what that faculty member meant to them as individuals working with other students. That faculty member had a lot to do with their philosophy on life. I think it’s important that we got a coach that, not only understands basketball, but where basketball fits in the university and where education fits in a student’s life. That’s the most important thing for me and it’s probably the most important thing for our faculty, and so I think getting a great basketball coach that understands the game and a great man and a wife that understands young men and the importance of education will set Missouri State apart for a long time to come. So it’s great pleasure that I introduce to you the seventeenth basketball coach of Missouri State University, Paul Lusk. [Applause] Thank you. Thanks for the round of applause. President Cofer, thanks for the kind remarks. Let me get all the thank-yous out of the way right away because there are a lot of them. First and foremost, obviously President Cofer, the search committee, the Board of Governors, and then lastly, Kyle Moats. Kyle alluded to our meeting the other day and I was just so impressed with Kyle and his vision, and for me, in the position that I’m in, it was going to be very important that we go with the right people, and I know the right people are here at Missouri State. So we are extremely excited to be here. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Doug Elgin, the great leader of the Missouri Valley Conference. He has done so many good things for this league and to have him as a sounding board, the last couple days was really a great thing for me, and I’m looking forward to working with him. Behind every (my wife didn’t want me to say this) but behind every average man there is a great woman, and my wife, Melanie Lusk, is a great woman. Let’s give her a round of applause. I think that being a coach and being in this profession, it’s a very difficult profession. It’s very time demanding. And you have to have an understanding wife and I certainly have an understanding wife and she is the backbone of our family. I would like to introduce my two children, Maddi Lusk, eight-years-old and Jack Lusk. Why don’t you guys stand up? Alright, good job guys. You can sit back down. Alright. Obviously, it’s a transition for the kids. They’re uncertain right now, they’re a little bit confused as to what the heck’s going on, so we had mentioned that we might be moving, and they didn’t like that idea a whole lot so having a coaching background, I called a timeout and Mel and I huddled up a little bit and we decided to do what all good parents would do. We promised to buy them a puppy-dog for moving to Springfield. And then we thought we would throw in some Legos in on top of it for Jack. That’s just good parenting. Spoil your kids rotten. They’re excited to be here. We’re excited to be here as a family. Mel and I spent some time in the Southwest Missouri region when we were over at Missouri Southern. We developed a lot of great friendships and as we were coming back over on forty-four yesterday, it was just like déjà vu. It felt like home. So we are excited to be here. I would also like to thank my mom and dad. I think, in your life, it’s not about what you do, but it’s about the people around you and I’ve had a lot of great support through the years. My dad was a long time high school coach. Kyle said that he was in the Hall of Fame, but I’m not for sure about that. And then, my mother has been a source of strength for me and so I just wanted to thank them. Now, onto some of the former coaches that I’ve worked for. I think as I look back on my career, even my playing career, every coach that you have…every coach that you have has an influence on you, and I’ve had a lot of great coaches. Then the guys that I’ve worked for – my first job was at Southwestern Illinois Junior College. Coach Rowe, you would remember, well Coach Rowe isn’t here today, but Coach Rowe would remember that it’s called Belleville Area Junior College. They’ve changed the name. But I worked for a guy named Jay Harrington and he’s in the National Junior College Hall of Fame. I just had a great experience working for him. I worked for Robert Corn right down the road at Missouri Southern State College, which is now Missouri Southern State University. I had a great three-year run with him. He taught me a lot about the game and a lot about the profession. I’m very thankful for his friendship. And then, getting the opportunity to hook up with Matt Painter has just been a phenomenal experience and I think he’s one of the finest college coaches in the country, and I think they way that we do our business at Purdue and our brand name resonates in college basketball, obviously Zo has done that tradition here, and I’m looking forward to doing the same. I was also fortunate enough to work for Coach Keady in his last year at Purdue. What a great opportunity it was and a great experience to work with Coach Keady his last year at Purdue University, and now he’s become one of my closest friends and it’s just great to be a part of that family. Now that’s all, that’s it, I’m done with the thank-yous. We’re done with that. Now, onto the players. I think that the players that are here, anytime that you win a Missouri Valley Conference championship they deserve another round of applause. Let’s give these guys a round of applause. [Applause] I was really excited to meet with them last night and not all them were here, but I was able to get most of the guys that weren’t here on the phone and we had a great visit. I think the one thing that I relate to the team was any time there was a coaching change, they’re going through a wide range of emotions and I told the guys. The first thing I said last night was, “You lost a coach. You lost an exceptional coach. Cuonzo is one of my dearest friends.” I said, “ You lost a mentor. You lost an exceptional mentor.” I said, “It’s my job. It’s my job to help you navigate through this process,” because there is a wide range of emotions they’re going through, and that’s what I’m here to do. I think the guys felt comfortable with the meeting. I think we’re in a stable position, and as I told the guys last night, I said, “It’s no different than me leaving Purdue or Southern Illinois when I was an assistant there.” Life is about relationships and they are connected to Cuonzo Martin for the rest of their lives and that relationship will last. Distance has nothing to do with that. But now, we have to move past that and I told them now it’s time to get to work, and we got to go in full attack mode. It’s an unbelievable accomplishment winning the league last year. When I told those guys last night. We cannot be satisfied with just doing it once. We’ve got to come back and try winning another Valley championship and then breaking through and getting into that NCAA Tournament, and I know all the resources are here to do it. I’m just really excited about the meeting with the players. Players are the most important part about the program, period. It’s not about me. It’s absolutely not about me. It’s about those guys. I’m here to help them achieve all their goals on and off the floor and that’s what I’m going to do. Now, I’ll scream at them every once in a while, but I’m pretty easy to play for. I think the guys will see that I’m fiery, but I want to see them do well, and I want to work with guys that are coachable. I know Zo’s philosophy. I know these guys are coachable and they’re really good kids and they’ve got a lot of substance. That’s what we’ve been able to do at Purdue. We’ve taken a lot of substance and substance wins out. It’s important to have a really good locker room and I know there’s a really good locker room here with these guys. Anytime you come into a new situation, especially one like this where the coach moves on for winning, it’s a positive thing because, from my perspective, there is a winning culture in place here at Missouri State. It’s established. These guys are winners. They understand how to win. Now, I’ll do some things differently than Zo, but we all have the same goal. We want to win another championship and break through that barrier and get to the NCAA Tournament. Obviously the resources are great here. It seems like all the people we met with, the Board of Governors, the search committee, random fans, every body is very very proud of this institution, not just from an athletic standpoint, but from an academic standpoint, and I think that is very important. Then, when you talk about the basketball program they get even more passionate. That’s the kind of place you want to be at, because there are great fans here. I remember back in my playing days when Coach Boon was here, and it was a rowdy crowd in there. We had a lot of great battles back in the valley, so I wanted to thank all the fans for coming out today. I think that’s really, that’s about it. In closing, I would like to address the media. These coaching searches are so private and confidential and I’ve gotten a lot of E-mails and calls from some of the media. I haven’t responded to any of you guys. It’s not that I don’t like ya, it’s just that I respect the process. So I look forward to working with you guys, I think we got a great situation here. I got to tour the facility last night. It’s as good as anywhere in the country. We’re gonna put a great product on the floor. We’re ready to get after it, so I think we’re going to open up for questions now. Okay. Thank you, guys. Jake’s got the microphone ready to go. Looks like Erin, you got the first question. Erin Bone from the Springfield News-Leader. You talked a lot about your friendship with Cuonzo Martin. Can you compare yourself to him in terms of personality and in coaching style and things you might do the same, things you might do differently? Well, we’ve just, our friendship goes back to our high school days. I think we have similar beliefs on how the game’s supposed to be played, on how a person’s supposed to live their life. But I think I have to be Paul Lusk. He has to be Cuonzo Martin. I think the great thing about it is, we’re going to be a man-to-man team. We’re going to be a motion-offensive team. I don’t get so caught up into the system. I just get caught up into playing basketball the right way. I think there’s a right way to play it. I wanna take good shots. If a guy’s made three in a row, I wanna give that guy another shot. I wanna take care of the basketball. I don’t wanna turn it over. I wanna be fundamentally sound. I think we have similar styles. I our message and the way we get it across are probably pretty similar, but I’ve got a lot of respect for him and as I told the guys last night, it’s time to focus on what we need to focus on. We gotta get back to work. These guys have been, it’s been some uncertain times. It’s been tenuous for the last couple days. I gotta spend more time with them. I talked about trust last night. They’ve gotta learn how to trust me and I gotta learn how to trust them, and I’m excited I get to work with these guys. Hello. How are you? Dan Lucy from KOLR-Ten in Springfield. Up for a couple of different jobs, Northern Illinois, Bradley. What made this one so special when you’re looking at that? When you get into this profession, as I talked about, it has nothing to do with me. The reason I’m standing here today it’s about the players. It’s about the players at Purdue. We were unbelievably successful. It’ll allow Zo get an opportunity. It’s allowed me to get an opportunity. The one thing that my wife and I have talked about, for about the last year and a half, it was going to be really important for us when we get an opportunity to go to a place that we can live the rest of our lives at, and that’s what we like about this place. I have both feet in. We’ve lived in this area before. We feel like this thing can be special and you just know when you have a special opportunity. President Cofer and Kyle’s vision – it was attractive to me. It was attractive to me, and I know the right people are here and for me, I want to be with the right people. Allen Vaughn, Tag Magazine. Did the Matt Painter - Mizzou saga, or whatever that was, did it have you in a holding pattern at all? It had me in an emotional wreck pattern. It was one of those things. Coach Painter’s heart is at Purdue. It was one of those situations to where he was going to listen and he went through the process. I think he felt like he owed it to himself and ultimately, he made the right decision. Purdue is a better place because of it. It’s going to help their program. It’s going to help the players’ program. The players. But it really didn’t have me in a holding pattern. I mean, I think there was a lot of speculation out there about what would happen if he left. For me, I wasn’t going to pass on this opportunity if it was right, and this opportunity was right. [Inaudible] Yeah, well, Kent Williams is a guy who obviously, I’ve known for a long time and he’s been offered a position on Cuonzo’s staff and he’s officially accepted that and I’m very excited for him. And then, I have not had any conversation with Steve or Trevor. They’re out at the Final Four I decided not to got to the Final Four this weekend, my children were on spring break and we were going to do some fishing with them down in Southern Illinois. Well obviously that whole plan got blown up. So we’re here with you guys, but we’re excited to be here. I know there are some good fishing spots down here. I’m just…there’s a lot of movement in college basketball right now, and I’ll just wait for Steve and Trevor to get back to campus and sit down and see what their plans are. Maybe they’re pursuing some other opportunities, but you always have a list. You are always thinking about potential guys you want to bring to campus and the big thing for me when it comes to, I’m not going to rush into anything, but I’m going to bring guys that have substance. I want to bring guys that I know are doing the right things. That’s going to be really important. It’s going to be the same way in recruiting. I want to bring the right kid in. I want to bring in a kid that’s serious about getting his degree, and it’s not just about basketball. Now that’s hard for eighteen-year-olds to understand sometime, but so no, no final decisions on anything. Hey Paul, Mike Scott, KSPR-TV. Can you tell me about your impressions of the university and the program from when you played back here in the nineties? Well, I mean, I’ve always thought of this institution in high regard. It’s been a, in my opinion, it’s not about one specific team. Missouri State has got a great program over the long-haul. There are ups and downs. It’s cyclical at times, but this program has been here for a long time with great reputation, great players. Like I said, I haven’t seen a game in the new place live. I’ve watched these guys play on TV and it just seems like a great atmosphere, but it’s just a quality institution. Overall, it’s a quality basketball program. Overall, we just want to continue to enhance that. Take the next step, and that’s what I’m going to challenge these guys to do. Paul, Ned Reynolds. Does the fact that the two coaches now, John and your buddy from SIU, affect recruiting any, and can you give us your thoughts on recruiting? I apologize. I forgot to mention John, and I’ve known John a long time. John has accepted a position there. Yeah, I think it does. Anytime there’s a transition and there’s a coaching change, it does, but I also think that kids are resilient and the three kids that have signed here, Kyle came up to me last night, and he said, “Coach, I’ve called them a couple of times and I’ve done this. I’ve done that.” That’s ownership. I told the guys last night, it’s really not about me. I’m going to recruit the guys. I’m going to find them. They gotta close the deal. They’re the guys that, when these recruits get to campus, they’re the best recruiters. So I haven’t talked to the incoming kids yet. As you can imagine, it’s been a whirlwind, but I’m going to call them right after this press conference and get on the phone with them, and then get some feedback from these guys. Anything else? Yes. Can you give us more specific thoughts on the players you’re inheriting and more on the personnel? You talked a lot about the players being important. What do you see out of this specific group? Well, I haven’t watched enough film on them, but I know they’re all really good players or they wouldn’t be in that locker room. I think, another group to mention, obviously, the outgoing seniors. They’ve been terrific. They’ve done a lot for the program. But now, it’s just matter of those guys figuring me out, me figuring them out. I told a story when Coach Painter first got the job at Southern Illinois. Kent Williams and Jermaine Deerman, two great players in the Valley, they were just graduating, and they scored over thirty-five hundred points combined, and they were leaving the program. Everyone left us for dead. They didn’t think we’d be any good. We’re losing, I think, sixty percent of the offense, fifty percent of the rebounding. That doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me, is what we have, and I like these guys as players. I gotta get to know them better as people, but I like what we have in that locker room. Grant Bochantin, Ozarks News Journal. With the Missouri Valley Conference title last year and the players you have coming back and coming in, where go from here, now? Well, I just think you can never be satisfied. I think these guys have tasted it. I think the other thing that comes with success, is now, you’re being hunted and we’re going to have to pick it up another notch and just try to play good basketball, and play the right way. You just play the right way, and if we do those things, we’re going to give ourselves a chance. Hi Paul, Pam Clark from the Springfield News-Leader. How are you? Doing great, how are you? I’m doing great! I was up until one AM looking for you last night. Yeah, we told are kids last night, the thing they were excited about the most, we made it like they were spies and they were kind of flying around and they had a great time with it. I wish they would have waved to me or something or said hi. Seriously though, you’re connected to the Valley. You’ve probably watched even all these years, but Cuonzo learned a lot about the differences in being associated with a major conference in a men major even a conference like the Missouri Valley, it’s kind of hard to put all your eggs in one basket, which is a tournament championship. What’s your philosophy on getting this team to the NCAA tournament and I guess I’m asking about scheduling not conference scheduling? Well I mean, scheduling is very important, and Kyle and I have discussed that the schedule’s not complete for next year. I’ve got to sit down with Trevor and get some things figured out. The Valley is a very very strong basketball league and obviously this past season, the league champ didn’t go. I think that’s a shame because I thought that Cuonzo deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament. But I just think that we have to keep doing what we’re doing: playing quality opponents. When it gets around to league play, it’s like the Big Ten. You just beat, you beat each other up. But if you get some quality wins with the non-conference season, if you can play some BCS people and just have a solid schedule, you can put yourself in position, but I think if you’re good enough to finish in the top three or four of this league, you’ve got to be in consideration. But we have to do our part. We have to do our part, and that’s what were going top focus on. Coach, John Parman with the Standard student newspaper. Being a former player yourself, how has that, through your coaching career, helped you connect with your players? Well, I think that’s a good thing. I was a transfer. I went to the University of Iowa. I started my career there, and broke my leg the third game of my freshman season. I was starting, and it was a really tough injury, and came back the following year and decided to transfer back to Southern Illinois. A lot of people associate a transfer as a negative thing. Well I always knew I wanted to be a coach, and I knew it was a ways I was going to get to see two different successful Division One programs and how those coaches went about their business: Coach Tom Davis and Coach Rich Herrin, my old former college coach. And obviously you’re taking mental notes the whole time. There are some things you like about what they’re doing. There are some things you dislike about what they’re doing. They’ll be saying the same thing about me this year. Boy, there are some things I really like about Coach Lusk. Man, there are some things I really dislike. That’s the way it goes, but I think being a player just helps you associate with the players. I’m not that far removed. So, it’s been a real bonus for me. [Inaudible] Well, it’s an exciting time, but right now, like I said, I’m not focusing on me. I’m focusing on the players. Trying to get those guys in the right place. I always talk, we always talk to our team about the six inches between the ears. There’s nothing more important than the six inches between the ears. The jump-shots, the defendant, if the six inches between the ears, if that’s not right, nothing’s gonna be right. So it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be important for me that these guys are in a good place and I feel like we’re moving towards that. Is that it? Alright. Thanks, guys, for coming out! [Applause]